Hannah Brown: we should remain unafraid in the face of terror

I have never felt safe in a big city. I don’t like crowds, and I don’t like noise. Cities like London, and even Southampton or Birmingham, are ones that I would avoid if given the chance. As I’ve got older, these cities have become more appealing for job prospects, or even just shopping. But it doesn’t mean I like them.

Now with the added combination of the “age of terror” we’re living in, is it time to accept that I’m not the only one who feels like this? I’ve often spoken to my family and friends who are dismissive of my fears; what’re the chances of it happening to me?

Of course, as with anything, there is always a chance of it happening to me. There is a chance I could die in a terrorist attack.

However, there is also a chance I could die by being hit by a car, or falling out of bed, or eating food that has gone off. I’m not going to stop driving, sleeping, or eating, just because there is a chance it could happen to me – and a substantially bigger one than being involved in an attack.

We also have to understand that this isnít the first time we have had terrorist attacks in the UK. More people died in the 1980s, for example, from attacks than nowadays. These attacks have been happening long before all of us have been around. They would happen hundreds of years ago, and they will continue hundreds of years in the future.

So… what can we do about it? Is it right that we donít feel safe? Well, no, of course not. No one should get to make anyone feel unsafe in their own cities. But, it would seem that we donít have a choice.

What can we, students, do, then? We can continue to live and thrive. We can become the leaders of the future. Terrorism isn’t going to go away, but being scared is what they want us to be. Fear is an emotion we will feel every year of our lives, and itís something that we need to learn to live with. You can be scared when you visit London, or Paris, or Brussels, but you must carry on living your lives to the fullest and help this “age of terror” fall into the past.